January 29, 2013

"The first month was tumultuous with several tumultuous times throughout. I liked to think of myself as job security for the public relations department. About the only thing the far right and far left could agree on was that I did not belong at CNN."

Erick Erickson, no longer the right-wing guy at CNN. Assuming CNN needs a right-wing guy "for public relations," what kind of right-wing guy should it be... and why did CNN think Erick Erickson was the guy in the first place? I suspect a bias about the right caused the choice, but that he was never really the right choice. Nothing against Erickson, but what makes TV talking-heads shows work?

Erickson banned me from Redstate a couple of years ago because he didn't want to have anyone discussing Obama's COLB. I told him after he threatened everyone that the blog was his but that didn't trump the first amendment. The only other blogger that ever banned me was Charles Johnson (over his pet hangup, Darwinism), so in my book, Redstate and Eric the Red rank right down there with Chuckles the Clown and LGF.

I think Granholm and Palin would make a good team. CNN could bring back Cross-Fire with the two of them. And the can hire the set and camera team from Fox who puts all of the female commenters at the table in short skirts with the wide angle leg shots.

I think Sarah Palin has other things in mind. garage wouldn't understand. I am getting tired of O'Reilly. If CNN really wanted to find a niche, they could swing right but Soledad would never stand for it.

I don't think CNN has had a smash hit-talking heads-type show. They've made their bones on war and election reportage. So if you come up with the formula for a good talk show, they probably want to know!

Sarah Palin said something before the 2012 campaign started about making a decision whether or not to run by about September. So, on Sept 30, Erick the RedState Jerk put up a post every hour mocking her lack of an announcement. No amount of comments asking him to knock it off could make him turn away from this "public service".

I quit reading RedState after that. There are enough people on the left to dump on Palin. We don't need Erick Erickson, he of small accomplishment, throwing rocks at someone who has actually done something.

I don't watch the weekend talk shows anymore and only during the week by accident. Too predictable. They remind me of that old vibrating football game. Put players facing each other, and turn on the buzz. After a few minutes of noise, nothing much has happened, there is no winner, no progress, and all the players just slide sideways. Next week you take it out and play again, because you forgot how much it sucked.

And I should add that for all of us who have noticed the leftward drift of Fox TV imo this "drift" just demonstrates that fascism works; that the power of the regulatory state--especially a ruthless and unremitting one such as Obama's--to instill fear in the opposition and dictate/influence corporate activity is a very real one. Fox's leftward drift is hardly imaginary and neither is the very constant public attack upon it by Obama and his threatening regulatory and political minions. Thuggery works when one controls the government and has the media, the courts and the guns in one's pocket--just as it did for Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin..

Yes,Erickson always seemed uncomfortable in strongly advancing conservative talking points. It was more of a "Well, you're (the left)basically correct, but the right really isn't as extreme as you contend." sort of thing. "Damning with faint praise" if you will..

"I quit reading RedState after that. There are enough people on the left to dump on Palin. We don't need Erick Erickson, he of small accomplishment, throwing rocks at someone who has actually done something."

Yes, agree. I found him boring and didn't read him much - then stopped completely after the his non-stop sneering at Palin for not running. I guess it got him points with his beltway buddies. Too me he was just another faux-conservative who's always a little too happy shooting at "his own side".

Faux-objective liberal news outlets like CNN like their conservatives to come in two flavors: Faux (Brooks, Frum) or stereotypical (bombastic white male, preferably overzealous Christians. The only reason Buchanon isn't still the house conservative at CNN is because he was finally disowned by the GOPover a decade ago). Smart conservatives like Jonah Goldberg or even Mark "more depressing by the day" Steyn won't get a lot of facetime on those networks. Don't want to cloud the waters with all that logic and stuff.

Erickson is on the radio in Atlanta and he's more conservative than Brooks & Frum as far as I can tell (honestly, I listen to sports talk more than politics). BUT, he's got the same underlying problem. He wants to be liked by the beltway and media apparatchik so therefore he either is overly sensitive to their concerns or worse, believes in their base assumptions about conservatives (that they are mean and greedy and sometimes a little to into that whole Bible thing). Which gets them into trouble with righties by trying to 'sound' reasonable, or in the case of the Frum's of the world, they concoct some stupidass idea like 'compassionate conservatism' (i.e. big government conservatism, thus giving the point that compassion can only come in the form of a government check and cutting the government and the taxes that fund it is therefore uncompassionate).

Related: what we really need a good devil may care libertarian on all the networks IMHO. Like Stossel was on ABC.